10:08 AM.
The fast-rising American mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke has been acclaimed for opera roles, as soloist with orchestra as well as in song recitals. She's a graduate of the prestigious Juilliard school of music, and has performed around the world, including the Metroplitan Opera, Carnegie Hall and the English National Opera. Earlier in 2012 she won a Grammy for Best Opera Recording with John Adams' 'Doctor Atomic', in the role of Kitty Oppenheimer. She's in New Zealand performing as part of the NZSO's 'Firebird' and 'La Mer' shows.

Dr Christopher Swift, a fellow at the University of Virginia's Centre for National Security Law, and author of The Fighting Vanguard: Local Insurgencies in the Global Jihad discusses the implications of the shocking photographs that apparently show US soldiers posing with the corpses and body parts of Afghan insurgents.

The huge row over the Budget's limitation of tax relief for charity-giving; hand-wringing over the Coalition losing the plot; and Abu Qatada is arrested - but when will he go?

10:05 Sasha Cooke - American mezzo-soprano

The fast-rising American mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke has been acclaimed for opera roles, as soloist with orchestra as well as in song recitals. She's a graduate of the prestigious Juilliard school of music, and has performed around the world, including the Metroplitan Opera, Carnegie Hall and the English National Opera.

Earlier this year she won a Grammy for Best Opera Recording with John Adams' Doctor Atomic, in the role of Kitty Oppenheimer.

She's in New Zealand performing with NZSO, touring the country with its Firebird and La Mer shows.

10:35 Book review with Don Rood

Fighting Spirit: 75 Years of the RNZAF by Margaret McClure
Published by Random House

From nine to noon every weekday, Kathryn Ryan talks to the people driving the news - in New Zealand and around the world. Delve beneath the headlines to find out the real story, listen to Nine to Noon's expert commentators and reviewers and catch up with the latest lifestyle trends on this award-winning programme.

Links

Week Ahead on Nine to Noon

Coming Up on Nine To Noon

10:05 am Monday 3 August: Rugby player Jerome Kaino

Jerome Kaino was 21 when he made his debut for Auckland, the Blues and the All Blacks in the same year. He’s considered to be the best blindside flanker in world rugby. Born in American Samoa, he was four years old when his family moved to Auckland, and he quickly shone on the rugby field. But his swift rise to the top was bumpy – he struggled with alcohol and was convicted for drink driving. Jerome Kaino’s written a book about his career highs and lows. In it, he also looks at the effect of the pressure on young players, particularly Pacific Islanders.

10:05 am Tuesday 11 August: Dame Silvia Cartwright

Dame Silvia Cartwright returned to New Zealand earlier this year after five years presiding over the Khmer Rouge Tribunal in Cambodia, along with four other international jurists. Four-thousand victims were parties to the legal action against senior leaders of the brutal Pol Pot regime, which was responsible for the deaths ofnearly two million Cambodians between 1975 and 1979. Each day of the tribunal, hundreds of Cambodians would attend court to hear testimony and watch proceedings. Dame Silvia was the first woman to be Chief Judge of the District Court, first female High Court judge and in 2004, she became New Zealand's 18th Governor-General. She’s currently on the United Nations Human Rights Council investigation into war crimes and human rights abuses in Sri Lanka. She speaks with Kathryn Ryan about her extraordinary career.